


Rebuilding Bridges, Mending Wounds

by coffeegrl



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Birthday, Family, Fluff, Gen, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 20:18:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9511706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeegrl/pseuds/coffeegrl
Summary: These short chapters (not necessarily interconnecting) are going to be about the Jack Dalton/Riley Davis relationship that NEEDS more attention in the 2016 MacGyver reboot. I mean, seriously. The writers give us that great episode right before Christmas, where so much is revealed about their past, and then nothing? I want more Jack/Riley, father/daughter type interactions!I'll always try to clarify when in the time line a chapter is happening, if it's necessary. (i.e. Bozer knows/doesn't know about Phoenix; before or after the episode 'Scissors'; with Thornton or Webber as their boss, etc.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> In the episode 'Scissors,' Jack makes a comment that Bozer has known the real Riley for a week and he's known her since she was 12. I don't think it's ever mentioned exactly how long Jack and Riley's mom dated before Jack left, so I decided to make their relationship 2 1/2 to 3 years long. Long enough for Riley to definitely have gotten attached to Jack and justify how upset she was that he left. 
> 
> I'm not sure how old everyone is supposed to be in the series, so I looked up the ages of the actors and went with that.
> 
> This story is un-beta'd.

Bozer was the first to have a birthday after he, Mac, Jack, and Riley had all gotten to know each other. He didn’t yet know about The Phoenix Foundation, but that didn’t stop him from becoming a part of their little group when they had some downtime. They had agreed that they would all do something together for his birthday, Bozer’s choice, and that was how they all found themselves sitting in a classroom at a community college at 8:00 on a Saturday morning. Bozer had insisted they all take a one-day special effects course together, figuring they could help him out with future movies. The morning was spent with hands-on material, and they each worked on making a monster mask. The afternoon was spent on computers and special effects, at least until the program mysteriously crashed around 3:00, with two more hours of the class to go. The teacher insisted they would all receive a partial refund for the two missed hours and was still scratching his head as everyone filed out of the room, Jack raising his eyebrow at Riley as she feigned an innocent look his direction.

Mac’s birthday was next and he wanted the four of them to participate in an Escape Room Challenge. Things were going well, until Bozer realized his mistake of drinking two 20-oz Cokes before they were all locked in. When Bozer hit the point of just sitting on a chair in the room, rocking back and forth saying, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” Mac was ready to just signal that they gave up and wanted to be let out. However, Jack, much to Mac and Riley’s surprise, figured out the final clue they needed to get out. The previous clue had pointed them to a scene that had occurred in a Dirk Pitt novel written by Clive Cussler. There were several books in that series on a shelf in the room and Jack started flipping through them until he found what he was looking for, which led to them being able to unlock the door and Bozer rushing to the bathroom. Mac and Riley looked quizzically at Jack, who muttered something as he blushed slightly, about a broken ankle a couple years before meeting Mac and his cute librarian neighbor who took pity on him and brought him books to read, even though he didn’t have a library card. 

Jack’s birthday was next. Unlike Bozer and Mac, he chose something much more low-key. One of the smaller theaters close to their neighborhood was having an 80s action movie marathon. For one price, you got to see three classic 80s action flicks, as well as receive a refillable bucket of popcorn and large soda, and a box of movie theater candy. Unfortunately, Jack wasn’t as young as he used to be, and three movies in the dark left him falling asleep about 20 minutes into the final movie in the almost empty theater. He woke up as the usher poked him with his broom to find that the others had abandoned him to go watch a special showing of one of the original Star Trek movies. They found Jack waiting in the car, looking sullen, and knew they were in trouble when he started the car and drove them to their respective homes without saying a word. 

By the time Riley’s birthday rolled arrived, Bozer knew about The Phoenix Foundation and Mac’s ‘secret identity.’ He hadn’t even thought to ask Riley when her birthday was and she was quick to not share. She hadn’t had a birthday worth celebrating in quite a few years, and she expected that year to be no different. They all happened to be in between missions at the time her birthday rolled around, so she slept in, spent the day watching sappy romantic chick-flicks that she claimed to hate, but secretly loved, and ordered pizza for dinner. When she heard a knock on her front door, she fully expected it to be the pizza guy, even though she knew 15 minutes was unrealistic for a delivery time, so she was a little shocked to find Jack standing there. 

“Jack!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Happy Birthday?” he asked, more than said, and that was when Riley noticed a small bakery box with another smaller box sitting on top, untidily wrapped in paper with balloons on it. 

“Uh, thanks?” she said, stepping aside so Jack could come in. “Listen,” she said, closing the door behind him, “You didn’t tell anyone else today was my birthday did you? Because I wasn’t really going to….” She trailed off as she saw Jack shaking his head.

“I didn’t tell a soul. I figured if you wanted people to know, you’d tell them yourself.” Jack set the boxes down on her small kitchen table and looked around. Her apartment was small, and didn’t have a lot of furnishings or decorations, but it had a cozy feel to it. 

“Sorry about how I look,” Riley said. “If I’d known you were coming over to surprise me, I would have made myself look decent.” Riley was wearing a pair of sweatpants with an old t-shirt and socks; her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail; and she didn’t have any makeup on. 

“Well, if I’d told ya, then me coming over wouldn’t have been a surprise, now would it?” Jack said. “Besides, you think how you’re dressed is gonna bother me? You look fine and I’ve seen you when you didn’t look fine anyway. If you recall correctly, I was the one who stayed up with you all night, holding your hair back while you puked into the toilet, what was it, 7 times, when you were 14 and had that awful stomach bug that was goin’ around.”

Riley smiled a little. “Yeah, Mom was out of town and you got a crash course in taking care of a sick teenage girl. By the way, did I ever apologize for the time that night that I missed the toilet and threw up on you instead?” 

“I don’t think you did, but apology accepted,” Jack said.

They both just stood in Riley’s kitchen for a couple minutes, looking around awkwardly. “Sooooo,” Jack finally said. “Did ya do anything fun today for your birthday?”

“Not really,” Riley said. “Just spent the day appreciating being somewhere that’s not prison or where a bunch of terrorists are shooting at me.”

“So basically a good day,” Jack said, chuckling a little bit. 

“Basically,” Riley said, smiling back. “Listen, I’ve got pizza coming. I ordered a large, figuring I’d have leftovers, but you’re welcome to eat dinner with me, if you want…” She trailed off. 

“Yeah, I could go for some pizza,” Jack said. He had actually already eaten dinner, but he was going to take this opportunity that seemed to be presenting itself to spend some time with Riley. After the “incident” at Christmas, things hadn’t been quite as strained between them, but Jack knew that it would probably take years, if ever, for them to have the kind of relationship he wished they could have. 

Riley jumped up when there was a knock on the door and Jack heard her talking to the pizza guy. He thought about offering to pay for the pizza, but knew Riley would take offense. She was trying really hard to get her life back together, now that she was out of prison, and he was going to let her have as much independence as she wanted. 

She set the pizza down on the table, then grabbed two paper plates and some napkins. 

“Help yourself,” Riley said, pulling two Cokes out of the fridge and handing one to Jack. Jack was afraid he would be up half the night from caffeine if he drank that Coke, but just couldn’t bring himself to look old and ask for water instead. He put a slice of the pepperoni pizza with extra cheese on his paper plate and waited for it to cool down a little, while Riley just dove right in, burning her tongue. 

They ate in silence for several minutes, until Riley gave a small laugh at something she had been thinking about.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Jack asked.

“Oh, this one’s worth at least a nickel,” Riley said. “I was just remembering my 13th birthday party.”

“Oh God,” Jack said, putting his head in his hands and chuckling. “I’m surprised you’re still not mad at me over that one.”

For Riley’s 13th birthday, she was allowed to have her first boy/girl party. No more than 20 people total, including Riley, and the door to the basement, which had been decorated for her party, had to stay open at all times, with the understanding that Jack or Diane could enter at any time, unannounced. Jack and Diane had been dating for around seven months at that time and Diane, who had needed to run out for more ice, had left Jack in charge. He went downstairs just in time to catch the teenagers playing spin-the-bottle. He had put a stop to that on the spot, although looking back, he wasn’t really sure why he had flipped out so badly over it. He had embarrassed Riley in front of her friends by giving a lecture on kissing and how they weren’t old enough to do that yet, when Diane had appeared with a bag of ice and had drug him back up the stairs to the main level of the house.

Riley didn’t speak to Jack for two weeks after that and then, in true Teen Girl fashion, just decided one day that she wasn’t mad at him anymore and asked him to read over her book report for her English class. 

“No, I get it now, as an adult,” Riley said. “Plus, it wasn’t like you had a lot of time to prepare for having a teenage girl around. Mom had 13 years to prepare herself for my teen years. You had seven months.”

“Hey now, don’t fill up on pizza,” Jack said, as Riley reached for a fourth slice. “I brought a little somethin’ for ya. Just let me know when you’re ready for dessert.”

Riley looked at Jack suspiciously, but pulled her hand back. “Well, I’m ready now, I guess.” 

“Close your eyes,” Jack said. “I promise I’m not going to do anything to you,” he said, as he saw a look of suspicion cloud her eyes. She closed her eyes, heard the cardboard box opening, then the click of a lighter. “OK, you can open your eyes,” Jack said.

When Riley opened her eyes she saw a small cake with pink icing, the size of which was designed to feed two people, with one of those small birthday candles sticking out of it, burning brightly. “Happy Birthday,” Jack said. “Make a wish.”

Riley closed her eyes and made the same wish that she’d been making on her birthday for almost a decade now, then blew out the candle. Jack grabbed two forks from a kitchen drawer while Riley pulled the still smoking candle out of the cake. Riley didn’t really pay attention to the flavor until she had the first bite in her mouth.

“Oh my God! Jack! This is,”

“Funfetti with strawberry icing,” Jack said around a mouthful of cake. “I knew it was your favorite before. I was hoping it still was,”

“It is,” Riley said, getting a little emotional, but quickly stuffing her emotions down with another bite of cake. “Where did you find this? I can never find funfetti with strawberry icing at bakeries. I guess it’s not a very popular combination.”

“I had to order it,” Jack said, looking down at the table. “The lady at the bakery asked me how old my granddaughter was turning when I ordered it. She looked a little surprised, and creeped out, when I said it was for my co-worker who was turning 26.”

Riley laughed and almost spit out her cake. Jack pushed the other box across the table toward her. “I got ya a little somethin’ too.”

“Jack, you didn’t have to….”

“I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to. Open it,” he said.

Riley tore the wrapping paper off, opened the small box, and laughed. Inside lay a My Little Pony flash drive. Even though she would hide them before her friends would come over, she had kept her collection of My Little Pony dolls out on a shelf in her bedroom, even as a teenager. At least, Jack knew they had still been there when he had left. He figured she had gotten rid of them by now.

“This is not what I was expecting,” Riley said.

“Well, I remembered you really liked them.”

“I still do,” Riley said. “Besides, who would suspect illegal files on a My Little Pony flash drive?” 

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that,” Jack said, stifling a yawn. “Well, hey, I’m gonna go. I’m gettin’ too old for these wild parties,” he said jokingly. 

Riley walked Jack to her front door, then, without even realizing she was going to do this, reached out and put her arms around him. He returned the hug and whispered, “Happy Birthday” to her one more time. 

“Thanks,” she whispered back.

Jack then left and Riley shut and locked the door. She went back into the kitchen, put away the leftover pizza and cake, and threw the trash in the trash can. She picked up the flash drive, smiled, and thought about the wish she had made while blowing out her birthday cake. 

She knew that she and Jack had not been on the best of terms when he had left her mom, a little over a decade ago. Ever since then, she had made a wish on her birthday, even when she was prison, that she would get a chance to make things right with Jack. She had loved him, more than she loved her biological father, but being a teenage girl, she had said things that she never got a chance to apologize for and take back. And then Jack had gotten her out of prison. 

But prison life had hardened her. She took one look at Jack and had immediately resented him for leaving, especially after seeing how close he was to Mac, who was the same age she was. She had even wondered, on more than one occasion, if she would have ended up on a completely different life road if he had stuck around and been the father she knew he was capable of being. 

That was all in the past however. Maybe some day in the future, she would tell Jack about her birthday wishes. But not yet.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any suggestions for stories you would like to see between Jack and Riley, please leave them in the comments section. :-) They can be something you've thought of on your own and would like to see written, something that I've mentioned in a chapter that I've written, or something that's happened on the show that you would like to see more fleshed out.


End file.
